Final Jeopardy: Celebrity Authors (10-20-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (10/20/2025) in the category “Celebrity Authors” was:
A 1984 trip to Normandy inspired this journalist to write a book that popularized a term for an era of Americans
New champ Dargan Ware, an attorney & writer from Bessemer, AL, won $26,200 last Friday. In Game 2, he’s up against: Nick Petrilli, a casino surveillance manager from Binghamton, NY; and Amanda Tholke, a criminal defense attorney from Cincinnati, OH.
Round 1 Categories: Everything’s Coming Up Roses – Book Title Adjectives – Pumpkin Carving – Animals – Automotive Options – Postseason Heroes With MLB on Fox
Nick found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Automotive Options” under the $800 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was tied in second place with Amanda at $2,800, $1,000 less than Dargan’s lead. Nick made it a true Daily Double and said seat belts. Close but WRONG.
Found on many cars manufactured after 2002, the latch system provides secure attachment points for these show
Dargan finished in the lead with $6,400. Amanda was second with $3,600 and Nick was last with $1,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: The Library of Alexandria – This is a Holdup…! Movie – Kings & Queens – A Few Clues About a Word – Bury Me Not – On the Lone Prairie
Amanda found the first Daily Double in “The Library of Alexandria” under the $2,000 clue on the 13th pick of the round. She was in second place with $6,400 now, $5,200 less than Dargan’s lead. Amanda bet $2,000 and said “the playwrights.” That was WRONG.
One story goes that the library rented the works of these 3 dramatists from the Athenian archives & kept the originals show
Dargan got the last Daily Double in “Bury Me Not” under the $1,200 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $15,200, $11,000 more than Nick in second place. Dargan bet $4,800 and he was RIGHT.
Not in a ballpark or on a polo field but on a golf course, like this famous first wife who died in 2022 & ended up in Bedminster, N.J. show
Dargan finished in the lead with $21,200. Amanda was in second place with $10,800 and Nick was last with $4,200. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS TOM BROKAW?
Tom Brokaw is a retired TV journalist, who hosted 3 major NBC News programs during his career. Brokaw traveled to Normandy, France in the spring of 1984 to work on an NBC documentary on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. There he listened to first-hand accounts from veterans and was so impressed with their courage and resilience that he continued his research in that vein.
Brokaw came to believe that the veterans of WWII veterans, as well as those who supported the troops from home, were “the greatest generation any society has ever produced.” He published these stories under the title “The Greatest Generation” in 1998. (excerpt) A No. 1 bestseller, it inspired Tom Brokaw to follow it up with “The Greatest Generation Speaks” and “An Album of Memories”.
Nick got it right. He didn’t bet anything, standing pat on his $4,200.
Amanda went with Dan Rather but she added an S at the end of his last name, so it would have been wrong even if it was him! She bet and lost her whole $10,800.
Dargan also got it right. He bet $401 and won the game with $21,601. Dargan’s 2-day total is $47,801.
A triple stumper from each round:
EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES ($400) For its ability to seemingly rise from the dead, the Rose of Jericho is also known as this plant
KINGS & QUEENS ($1600) This future queen’s marriage to a German just 20 years after World War II got her in Dutch, but she & her husband became very popular
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “MUSIC MEN”
Before creating this record label in 1959, its founder worked on a Lincoln-Mercury assembly line show
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Oops, didn’t watch; recap for me.
Missed first DD (air bags); got 2/3 of the 2nd, 3rd was easy. Stumped by final, should have known it.
Knew the bond/Oscar winner; the protective feature.
It was another great game, and Dargan remained as the Jeopardy champion. Well, I performed about average in the game, and went with Walter Cronkite for FJ. Regarding Tom Brokaw, I was less than impressed with his initial NBC news coverage of the 1991 Gulf War. In fact, I had since regretted not tuning onto the round the hour cable news telecast instead. After that, I said goodbye to the NBC news with Tom Brokaw. Okay, I ranted long enough.
Amanda’s daily double was brutal. It should have been one of the three names
I agree as that was a tough one.
Like Nick, I said Lazarus for the plant that comes back to life because my Nikki revived a plant that was thisclose to extinction and I named it Lazarus.